“Let me tell you something, Dorothy Gale from the Wizard of Oz was one of the great all-time leaders. She took three people that were missing something and had them look back inside themselves to find something they thought they never had. She wanted to go home, that was mission No.1, but in the end it was all about everyone else.”

I read this quote from Clint Hurdle, manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates, in Sports Illustrated’s 2015 Major League Baseball Preview. Not only is it a statement about what a good leader does, it is perhaps the best distillation of the very essence of The Wizard of Oz I have ever seen.

A leader seeks their own goal by helping everyone around them find what makes them better. A coach needs to pay attention to know what each of his or her players desires or needs and work with that athlete to make them better. When the collective individual goals are met, the team goals often follow for the coach. The devil is in the details. The devil is in making every single individual who walks through your door better on a daily basis.

I saw another fitting quote in a training and conditioning magazine this past week from Coach Mark Morrison, who is Head Strength and Conditioning Coach for Hendrick Motorsports. On the subject of training individuals and the myriad of training philosophies/programs available, Coach Morrison said,

“At the end of the day, as long as you are developing happy, healthy, strong, lean, and agile athletes, you have done your job.”

Truth! Write this in stone and live by it. Be the coach who, like Dorothy, finds the missing somethings in your athletes. Be the coach who helps them be happy, healthy, strong, lean, and agile athletes.